Conservative group asks Shea-Porter to list her public town halls

The conservative issues group Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire is calling on Rep. Carol Shea-Porter to release a list of 10 public town halls her spokesman said she has held since Shea-Porter took office in 2013.

The National Journal earlier this week reported that Shea-Porter spokesman Marjorie Connolly “dismissed charges that her boss is an absentee congresswoman as untrue and listed 10 public town hall events since Shea-Porter took office in 2013.”

Citizens group spokesman Derek Dufresne said the statement is “untrue” and asked Shea-Porter to release the list. He also said the group is asking that the Shea-Porter campaign provide “proof that she advertised each of these alleged ten town halls to her constituents to allow for their attendance either via her website, mail, an e-newsletter, or social media, prior to the alleged events.”

“The same Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter who once made a career out of being thrown out of George W. Bush’s town hall meetings and followed former Congressman Jeb Bradley around to many of his public forums, has been refusing to hold town halls during the 113th Congress,” Dufresne said. “In response, Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire has been calling on the congresswoman to hold public meetings, but she has refused to do so.

“While we have given up hope that she will hold town halls, we will not stand by as her spokeswoman makes false claims,” he said. “Here in the Granite State, we know Carol has been hiding. We call on her to release the list of these alleged 10 public town halls and prove that she made the public aware of all of the events prior to their occurrence immediately.”

The New Hampshire Journal is seeking a response from Shea-Porter’s campaign.

Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire is a nonprofit founded early in 2013. Its stated mission is to support “public policies that will create jobs, limit government, reduce the tax burden, increase public safety, improve the economy, protect the rights of parents and lead to better social welfare in the state of New Hampshire.”

RightOn Strategies, a consulting firm founded after last year’s election by former Rick Santorum campaign manager Mike Biundo, who is now chief strategist for New England of Sen. Rand Paul’s RANDPAC, and Derek Dufresne and Kory Wood, who are former aides to Shea-Porter GOP opponent Frank Guinta, is the group’s general consultant.